There’s definitely a chance this government shutdown goes on so long people forget how or why it started and all that’s left are Trump and Democrat leaders squabbling over who’s at fault. Ultimately the American people will decide between them -- and time is on Trump’s side.

Should Democrats kill the Trump proposal – as we believe they will – the President should feel empowered to begin to explore executive action to address the national security crisis at our southern border – including using the military to construct an effective border wall.

The Democrats obviously believe that because of the government shutdown, they hold a winning hand of cards. I think they are completely mistaken. The president has shown both that he is willing to compromise in good faith and also that he is willing to inflict serious pain on the Democrats should they refuse to meet him halfway. It would be a good thing for us all if Democrats stopped acting like petulant children and started taking the commonweal of the country to heart, instead of performing for their dwindling and disgusted constituency.

Donald Trump was elected president precisely because he understood what the people wanted -- and promised to give it to them. If this makes him a “populist,” it’s a mantle he’ll wear proudly. Democrats pledge free stuff, Trump offers prosperity and security. What will Americans choose in 2020?

People, not polls, elect presidents. Presidents run for reelection against real opponents, not public perceptions. For all the media hype, voters often pick the lesser of two evils, not their ideals of a perfect candidate. We have no idea what the economy or the world abroad will be like in 2020. And no one knows what the country will think of the newly Democrat-controlled Congress in two years. Whether or not they like Trump, millions of voters still think the president is all that stands between them and socialism, radical cultural transformation, and social chaos.

America is now burdened with the duty to defend Europe from the Atlantic to the Baltic, even as we face a far greater threat in China, with an economy and population 10 times that of Russia. And we must do this with a defense budget that is not half the share of the federal budget or the GDP that Eisenhower and Kennedy had. Halfway into Trump's term, the question is whether he is going to just talk about halting Cold War II with Russia, about demanding that Europe pay for its own defense, and about bringing the troops home — or whether he is going to act upon his convictions.

Can you imagine the late President George H.W. Bush, former President George W. Bush, the late John McCain or failed presidential candidate Mitt Romney sending that letter to Nancy Pelosi? What conservatives of all stripes having been waiting for for decades is a leader who will fight the Uniparty consensus in Washington, and Donald Trump has proven to be that leader.

The charge of not being a “team player” is what the Republican establishment uses to justify doing political damage to a conservative in the hope that the conservative will either be brought to heel, or, better yet, defeated in the next election.

If you only saw the political elites you might think the State of our Union really isn’t strong. Under current leadership it’s okay to cancel national assemblies for pathetic personal vendettas and cheap political points, but the American people aren’t fools -- they want border security.

To be sure, it's the media's mission to elect a Democrat every four years, but in 2016, the mission was of existential proportions — and they failed. It wasn't because they were on his side; it was because he beat them. For Frank Bruni to suggest the opposite — that the media were Trump's accomplices — is truly bizarre, even for Frank Bruni. Does he not remember his own newspaper publishing a front-page editorial in which it insisted President Trump has to be defeated by the media?

As Pelosi suggested, Trump can easily send a written report to the Congress. He should do just that. Even better, he can then take his disinvitation and move the venue elsewhere. He could then deliver his speech from the Oval Office—although he just gave a short talk from behind the Resolute Desk. Or, he could take it to Trump Country, and find a 50,000-seat stadium somewhere in Indiana or Texas and rock the house; if the SOTU is little more than a campaign speech in disguise, might as well go whole hog.

Trump’s burger fête was great theater. It was a magnanimous thing to do. It was a politically savvy thing to do. The president not only ate a bunch of burgers, he just ate the Left’s lunch, again. The serious point was articulated by Sarah Sanders, the President’s press secretary. ‘Because the Democrats refuse to negotiate on border security, much of the residence staff at the White House is furloughed – so the President is personally paying for the event to be catered with some of everyone’s favorite fast foods.’

No amount of excuses RINOs like John Kasich or liberal Democrats make will change the facts on the border -- or anything else of consequence in today’s America. Republican and conservative policies work if they’re tried, something not possible with the DC swamp mentality.

The shutdown should be about much more than the wall and border security. Serious as they may be, they are what the shrinks call the "presenting complaint." The real issue is the function of government itself -- what's important and what's not. A shutdown can serve as a living laboratory for examining the question of what is actually worthwhile that is missing because of that event. I daresay that most outside the Beltway would be hard pressed to find anything.

The elephant in the room – and the motivation for liberals fighting so hard against including the citizenship question on the census – is that it will re-open the debate over whether electoral seats should be apportioned according to the population of citizens rather than the total population.

The current impasse between congressional Democrats and President Trump was years in the making, primarily because GOP leaders of the recent past didn’t act to resolve it when they had the chance. If Trump gives in now we should only expect the cycle to repeat over and over again.

While Trump has urged that the U.S. pull out of these Mideast wars, Pompeo has corrected him, "When America retreats, chaos often follows." Is Trump looking for a showdown with Iran, which could result in a war that might vault his approval rating, but be a disaster for the Middle East and world economy and do for him what Operation Iraqi Freedom did for George W. Bush? One thing may confidently be said of the rhetoric and actions of Bolton and Pompeo: This is not what brought out the new populists who made Donald Trump president, the people who still share his desire to "stop the endless wars."

Our hopes and prayers for her health aside – and many conservatives are offering them even as they would love her to retire – my money is still on a 2019 fight to replace her. While my heart belongs to Judge Don Willett (who swore me into the Texas Bar), my money is on Amy Coney Barrett. She’s got some huge assets that make her the likely pick, starting with the “her” part. Soon-to-be Justice Barrett will not just make a great jurist. She’ll help pave the way for Donald Trump’s re-election by reminding us just what kind of people the Democrats are.

Asked recently by Fox News host Jeanine Pirro whether he is or has ever been working for Russia, Trump responded, “I think it’s the most insulting thing I’ve ever been asked.” Quite right, too. For the rest of us, though, it’s more than insulting. It’s been going on so long that we are tempted to forget what this travesty really is. Familiarity has bred indifference. It is time that we woke up to the truth. What we have been witnessing is a blatant and nefarious effort to repeal the results of a lawful election and undermine the integrity of our democratic institutions.

The Supreme Court’s infamous Dred Scott decision authored by Democrat Chief Justice Roger B. Taney was the ultimate expression of the long-held Democrat Party belief that state officials elected as Democrats have the right to impose their will and their laws on the residents of other states.